This article analyses the mobilization practices of the citizen movements Y’en
a marre in Senegal, Balai citoyen in Burkina Faso, Filimbi and Lucha in the
Democratic Republic of Congo. It proposes an analysis which insists on the
innovations in activism on the ground, the share devolved to information and
communication technologies, idiomatic practices and channels and means of 
expression. It also focusses on the linguistic systems structuring the discourses,
the modus operandi of the fight on the ground before taking a look at the
reactions of the political powers which often oscillate between repression,
cooptation, subordination, intimidation, corruption, instrumentalization,
infiltration, political rip-off etc.